With Curie, Intel hopes to break new ground in wearables, sensors, and the Internet of Things

Every CES has at least theme — a dominant technology that vendors and technology companies are talking about, even if it doesn’t take center stage at anyone’s keynote. At CES 2015, one of the most prominent themes has been the Internet of Things, and Intel’s keynote, in which CEO Brian Krzanich plucked a tiny microprocessor off his lapel, couldn’t have captured that trend more adroitly. This new chip, codenamed Curie, is the kind of product Intel is hoping will give it a leg up in the critical Internet of Things market over the long term.

If you haven’t seen IOT-related topics burning up the headlines at ExtremeTech or other websites, there’s a simple reason why — no one, despite a great deal of collective contemplation, has figured out how to make the concept of a web-connected toaster sing quite a like a new video card or even a major automotive push. Nonetheless, vendors large and small are pushing forward with the idea that various microcontroller-equipped devices will be integral parts of our personal lives in the not-too-distant future.

Intel’s Edison. Curie shown below for additional scale.

Curie, like Intel’s Edison, is designed to be an ultra-low power product SoC, but the power consumption on Curie is going to make Edison’s dual-core Atom and 1GB of LPDDR3 look wasteful. Curie is based on the Quark SE core, which presumably offers the same instruction set compatibility as standard Quark (it’s essentially compatible with the original Pentium’s instruction set, minus MMX), but with just 80KB of onboard SRAM and 384KB of flash storage. The OS is listed only as an “open source real-time operating system” and connectivity is provided through low-energy Bluetooth.

At first glance, Curie may seem a cut-rate version of an already cut-rate processor, with no applications processor, no I/O to speak of, no wireless connectivity, and no WiFi. Intel’s goal, however, is to push the chip into new markets where its tiny power-sipping nature is a “just right” fit for specific tasks and users aren’t required to recharge it multiple times a day.

Intel appears to be pursuing both the wearable fitness market and biometric and security applications, with additional tie ins to other brands like Fossil and Oakley. Exactly what the company believes the long-term results of these collaborations will be is unclear, Google Glass hasn’t exactly lit up the world with acceptance and joy.

Close-up on Curie

This new Curie module isn’t a direct competitor for anything in ARM’s standard product line — it’s going to go after ARM’s Cortex-M family of embedded microcontrollers. While it’s impossible to speculate on which Cortex-M chip best matches Curie at this point, Intel’s goal of creating wearable technology with long battery life could find clear markets in specialized fields, if nowhere else. Medical monitors and security tokens could benefit from these approaches, and the wearable market for fitness devices is still growing.

Curie is one plank of a larger Intel strategy to push compute capabilities into new areas alongside its RealSense camera technology, and wireless charging. The chip manufacturer also announced a major push to improve its employee diversity and retention rates of both women and persons of color. The company announced the plan with a number of prominent partners, including the International Game Developers Association, the E-Sports League, National Center for Women in Technology, Feminist Frequency, and Rainbow PUSH. This new announcement was a direct repudiation of the Gamergate snafu earlier this year, in which Intel pulled advertising from Gamasutra after angry gamers flooded it with complaints about the site’s editorial content.

$300M and a full pledge to improve Intel’s diversity over the next five years sends an awful clear signal about which side of that debate Intel decided it wanted to be on.

Tagged In

Yeah, the internet of things is looking more like the internet of nothings as time passes. For me personally, for just about any IOT item that has come out, I just can’t imagine going through the extra work and expense of getting it and setting it up just to do something that I normally do without a second thought and without almost any effort. They just feel more and more like solutions in search of a problem. There are a few corner cases where they’re useful, but overall the IOT concept has been a big bust for me thus far.

http://www.brainsnacksdaily.com/ Wait

With google and others trying to make appliances connected to the web, I don’t think I like where it is going. I cringe every time I enter a bar/club and see half the people on their phones and the other half pretending like they’re having fun for fb/instagram pictures.

Nick Jihad

I wonder when nerdy white guys will stop buying from companies that support social justice warfare organizations that attack them?

http://www.funstufftosee.com/ Dozerman

They’re intentionally trying to hire people based on gender and race. Isn’t that illegal?

Zunalter

Not as long as the gender isn’t “male” and the race isn’t “Caucasian”

Dan Barkley

Intel’s workforce should represent the markets they operate in. If the staff they hire aren’t up to it, they will be found out in the end.

http://www.funstufftosee.com/ Dozerman

Thing is, Intel has enough money to keep going for years without selling a single product. Even if they make a terrible mistake ( well, another terrible mistake; no company is blameless) they’ll still be successful, creating a false positive feedback loop that encourages other companies to do the same.

BtotheT

You mean every company? They all pay taxes.

Kaligula

Don’t worry, Limbaugh. It’s just lip service anyway. Any competitive company will always hire the most promising talent regardless.

Will Ovtuth

I hate that stupid term, The Internet of Things. I don’t need my toaster, oven, fridge, loveseat, footbath, etc…all talking to my pc, phone or each other. Besides it being the biggest waste of effort, the security issues that will def crop up are just another layer of insecurity I don’t want…..ever.

dc

I’m dying for the day that my Foreman Grill is connected to the internet so that I can ignite the charcoals using my iLighter.

Will Ovtuth

HOLY CRAP…..you may have just changed my whole perspective!!! lmfao…

Dan Barkley

I still want waterproof trousers. Not just over pants but normal pants that don’t get soaked.

Will Ovtuth

lol, Now that would actually be useful….like on your way home from work you can stop, wade out into a nice pond with your fishing pole and throw a few!! :)

BtotheT

I somewhat enjoyed the keynote at CES. Not a huge wireless guy, but I’ve been spouting connectivity for years. My reason for wireless dislike is 2 fold; around 80% efficiency compared to plugs(more carbon same task), and privacy, easily spied on locally, your keystroke output, your widi, ect.

Still progress is good, Tesla wanted a world without wires.

Matt Menezes

So while lots of people don’t think IOT is important, I do. If everything is connected, we can do things like walk out of a store with something without having to go to a cashier. Also, if you misplace something, you can easily find it if it’s constantly broadcasting wirelessly.

I don’t necessarily think IOT devices need to actively be used through our phone/computer like some IOT pushers are trying to do, but certain advances almost require normal products to have some basic connectivity.

Slurpy King

I agree Matt, the IOT is not as important as guvel environments. But keeping in mind the complexity of guvel environments one should realize that IOT is inevitable.

Moot8

what a blatant copy and ripoff of companies like mbientlab and redbearlab. I went to their booth at ces and they didn’t even have a working prototype. I bet this thing never even sees the light of day.

Dan Barkley

Thanks Michael. Dunder Mifflin must really miss you.

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